


Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Bun

by Janeway_in_a_TARDIS



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, erin is just a sweetheart, holtz is afraid of the dark, holtz is determined, holtz is honestly just part cat, protect this woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 17:05:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15867948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janeway_in_a_TARDIS/pseuds/Janeway_in_a_TARDIS
Summary: Literally just a little fluffy thing about Erin braiding Holtz's hair. It's aggressively pure.





	Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Bun

The ritual had started innocently enough. It hadn’t been a scheme by one or the other of them to get closer. It had just sort of happened one day. 

The day it started, Holtz had gotten ready for bed at an actually reasonable hour for once, and had planned on getting some sleep. As she showered, however, her mind raced and the warm water knocked a stubborn idea for a modification out of where it had been hiding in the depths of her ever-busy brain. She quickly rinsed her shampoo out, dried off, threw on a sports bra and some boxers, and hurried downstairs. She swore she’d be back to ‘relaxing’ right after she wrote it down, so she didn’t bother sweeping her hair back up into its elaborate bun, instead opting to wrap it in her towel and tuck the end in. 

When she slid down the fire pole to the second floor and thundered into the lab, she jumped when she saw Erin standing at one of the whiteboards. While the majority of the second floor was hers to do with as she pleased (she had, after all, called it fair and square)(and it helped that no one _really_ wanted their desk next to her plethora of explosives), one wall of the expansive lab had been covered in whiteboards so that Erin could have space to work. Holtz had quickly accepted the arrangement when she realized just how much faster she could get important calculations with the person doing them right beside her. (Plus, it gave her an excuse to gaze at the redhead all day, but no one had to know that part). At the current moment, that same redhead was staring at her in confusion. 

“Holtz? What are you doing down here at this hour?” Erin stammered, having also been spooked at the engineer’s abrupt entrance. 

“Oh, I had some stuff...things…” the blonde responded while flapping her hands limply at the workbench. “I could ask the same of you, though! Shouldn’t you be asleep?” 

“I couldn’t seem to sleep so I, uh, came back down to work and clear my head,” Erin replied with a somewhat self-conscious chuckle. Holtz couldn’t help but smile quietly at her friend. 

“Okay. Well, I’ll just be over here,” she said, before waltzing over to her materials. The two women worked in companionable silence for a while. When Holtz finished scribbling on her blueprint, she glanced up to watch Erin. The physicist had also changed into her pajamas, and Holtzmann had to bite back a smile at the fluffy pj pants with cartoon beagles on them. Biting back her smile suddenly became harshly biting her lip when the redhead reached up to the top of the whiteboard to adjust a number. When she moved, her slightly-too-small t-shirt rode up and exposed a sliver of creamy-white skin. Holtz shook her head to clear her thoughts and took a steadying breath. Maybe she’d continue working after all. 

After a few minutes, Holtz realized that her hair was still up in a towel. She discovered this by nearly lighting said towel on fire with her blowtorch. She quickly unwrapped it and dropped it on her chair. This left the issue of her hair. Generally, it was contained, but without her usual amalgam of pins and hairspray, it puffed up like a cartoon pomeranian after a bath. She sighed and tried to tuck it behind her ears and hope for the best. This plan worked for all of a minute and a half before it popped out from where she’d forced it. She tried again. Again, the rebel strands made a break for it. She huffed and tried to wrestle it back into position. After a few minutes of this, she was about ready to give up and trudge back up the stairs for her hairpins when she heard a soft voice call her name. 

“Hey, Holtz?” Erin tried again. She continued when the engineer looked up at her. “Want me to braid it?” Holtz’s eyes widened to the size of saucers at the offer. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had her hair braided. It might have been never. Her foster mothers had never cared enough to do it, and she had never had close friends when she was growing up. She didn’t even really know how to braid it herself. Erin, for her part, mistook Holtz’s surprise as horror and immediately backpedaled. 

“Or, I mean, only if you want me to, of course. I’m sure you can just do it yourself, I just thought-” 

“I never learned how,” the engineer responded. Her voice was barely a whisper. 

“What?” 

“I’ve never had my hair braided. I don’t know how to do it.” 

“Oh,” Erin breathed. “Well, come over here and sit on the ground in front of me and I’ll braid it for you.” 

Holtz obliged quietly. She even decided not to blurt the innuendo begging to be acknowledged when she sat between Erin’s knees. She didn’t want to risk shattering the fragile, blissful moment. She inhaled sharply when she felt Erin’s fingers card through her hair. 

“Is this okay?” Erin asked, with concern edging her voice. Holtz nodded once. Erin continued. As she quietly pleated the blonde’s unruly curls, the engineer closed her eyes and let out a little happy hum. Erin laughed quietly. 

"You’re like a little cat.” 

“What?” Holtz asked in a daze. She blinked sleepily at her friend. 

“All your little happy noises. They sound like a cat.” 

“Oh,” she responded dumbly. She realized Erin had finished and she turned back around. The other woman’s hands running through her hair had made her more relaxed and sleepy than she could ever remember being. “Imma, um, I’m gonna sleep I think. Thanks, Erin.” 

“Of course. Anytime you need it,” Erin replied with a soft smile. 

Holtz gave her a shy one in return and walked back up the stairs to bed. 

The next time it happened was just as impromptu as the first. A few weeks after the first occurrence, a storm hit the city and knocked the power out. Abby and Patty were out trying to get the team dinner when the lights flickered. Holtz was alone in the lab and quickly went stock-still. The lights died fully. She had to close her eyes and fight the rising feeling of panic. She took a few steadying breaths and then made her way over to the emergency battery-powered lamp that she kept on her desk for just these types of moments. She sat in her desk chair and pulled her knees up to her chest in an attempt to feel more secure. This was how Erin found her when she walked into the lab. 

“Hey, there you are. I tried calling up to you from...are you okay?” The physicist asked. 

Holtz gritted her teeth and muttered. “I’m fine.” 

“You don’t really look it. Is it the dark?” 

Holtz looked away and nodded, ashamed. 

“Hey, hey, hey, that’s okay! Everyone has their fears, right? Can I help?” Erin crept towards her balled-up friend as she spoke. She stopped when Holtz finally responded in the smallest voice she’d ever heard the blonde use. 

“Could you maybe braid my hair?” Erin smiled. 

“Of course.” 

After a few of these instances, it became a routine for the two. If they were working late, they would pause around 10:30 and Erin would braid Holtz’s hair. If something set her on edge and she needed comfort, Erin would braid Holtz’s hair. If they’d been slimed and had just taken showers, Erin would braid Holtz's hair. Frequently, even if they were just sitting on the couch together, Erin would braid Holtz’s hair. 

Eventually, Holtz decided to return the favor. One night, instead of sleeping early like she had claimed she would, she sat and watched YouTube videos on how to braid hair. She started with a simple three-strand braid, but soon she was able to do elaborate waterfalls and intricate Celtic Knots. 

The next day, the women once again worked late. Holtz could barely focus as she anxiously awaited the time to enact her plan. Finally, she couldn’t wait any longer and at 10:15 she turned to the redhead. 

“Hey, would you braid my hair?” 

“Of course!” Erin said happily. She eagerly capped her marker and walked over to her chair. Holtz sat on the floor and let herself once again get lost in the feeling of Erin’s nimble fingers smoothing through her curls. She lost herself so much that when it was finished she had almost forgotten her own plan. Almost. 

“All done,” Erin said with a smile, moving to stand. Holtz jumped up and gently pushed her shoulders back down. 

“Wait. Now it’s your turn,” she said, grinning. 

“But I thought-” 

“I decided to teach myself because you always do it for me and I wanted to be able to return the favor because it’s so nice and stuff,” the engineer mumbled. She was glad she had already walked around behind Erin so the physicist couldn’t see her blush. She took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her friend’s hair. 

When she’d finished, she tied off the braid with the extra hair tie she had put on her wrist that morning. She stepped back to admire her work. It wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly a passable first attempt at a french braid. Erin stood to look at it in the reflection of one of Holtzmann’s shiny metal machines. 

“Oh, Holtz,” she breathed as the reached a hand up to touch it. “It’s beautiful.” 

“It’s not great, but I’ll get better with a little practice,” she responded shyly. She was beyond thrilled that the older woman liked it. 

“Well then you’d better practice a lot, huh?” Erin asked. She turned to the other woman with a grin. 

“I guess so.” 

**Author's Note:**

> come yell with me on tumblr! @ravenfeathers01


End file.
